(Burma) Myanmar sentences Suu Kyi to more house arrest
— AP reports:
— “Myanmar’s generals have again succeeded in isolating democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but her fleeting emergence during a grueling trial showed that her steely resolve and charisma remain intact.”
— “A Myanmar court on Tuesday convicted the 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate of violating her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home. Her sentence of three years in prison with hard labor was quickly commuted to 18 months house arrest after an order from the head of the military-ruled country, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.”
— “Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, and the extension will remove her from the political scene next year when the junta holds its first election since 1990. Her party won in the polls then but was never allowed to take power.”
— “Her conviction and continued detention were condemned by world leaders and sparked demonstrations in cities from London to Japan. The European Union began preparing new sanctions against the country’s military regime and a group of 14 Nobel Laureates, including the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, called on the U.N. Security Council to take strong action against the country.”
— “President Barack Obama termed Suu Kyi’s conviction a violation of ‘the universal principle of human rights’ and said she should be released immediately.”
Category: Uncategorized
Pakistan: Christians remember victims of Gojra violence
UCAN Report: Christians remember victims of Gojra violence
— UCAN reports: “More than 500 people packed the Sacred Heart Church in Gojra recently to remember those who died in anti-Christian rioting”
— Father Hadayat: “I believe their blood will not go wasted and will bring about a revolt against the black (blasphemy) laws.”
— “According to Church sources, the death toll from the rioting has now risen to 10, including three children and three women.”
Canadian Pakistani Christian staged rally to condemn Gojra massacre
Pakistan Daily Times: “Blasphemy laws once again in the limelight”
Pakistan Daily Times: “Blasphemy laws once again in the limelight”
— Pakistan Daily Times: “Religious affairs minister says major amendments in blasphemy laws will benefit Taliban”
— Pakistan Daily Times reports:
— “When an angry mob of Muslims torched 40 houses and a church in the town of Gojra, two children, their parents and 75-year-old grandfather were burnt to death.”
— “Three days later, two people were killed in Muridke in what was a private employee dispute against a Muslim factory boss, but coloured by unfounded allegations that the businessman desecrated the holy Quran.”
— “Arbitrary law: ‘It’s an arbitrary law, which has been badly misused by extremists and influentials and should be abolished,’ Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Co-chairman Iqbal Haider said.”
— “‘There is no option but to abolish this law. More than that, the government should revive the secular nature of the state as our founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah envisaged, otherwise it will aggravate religious unrest,’ he said.”
— “The government moved quickly to try to limit the fallout of the anti-Christian killings, offering compensation but cabinet ministers have stopped short of pledging to scrap the blasphemy laws.”
— “‘A committee will [examine] the laws which are detrimental to religious harmony to sort out how they could be made better,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told Christians during a solidarity visit to Gojra. Just one witness is enough to incriminate a ‘heretic.’ Anyone accused of blasphemy is immediately arrested and charged, before an investigation begins.”
— “In many cases, people take the law in their own hands and go for killing the alleged blasphemer and rights groups say this trend is increasing.”
— “Benefit: But Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi said the government could not risk a ‘full-fledged review’ inciting a religious backlash.”
— “‘Any move for a major amendment in the law will generate another controversy that will benefit extremists and harm the cause of our Christian brothers.'”
Pakistan – Additional Report on 60-year-old woman charged with “blasphemy”
— BBC reports: “The women says it wasn’t the Koran she flung to the ground but a register in which the shopkeeper had listed her credit”
— August 5, 2009: Pakistan: Mob attacks home of 60-year-old woman in extremist “blasphemy” charge
Nigeria: Thirteen-year-old forced to watch Pastor hacked to death in Boko Haram deadly violence
Nigeria: Thirteen-year-old forced to watch Pastor hacked to death in Boko Haram deadly violence
— Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports: “A thirteen-year-old Nigerian Christian has told Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) sources how she was forced to watch her pastor’s murder, and has also spoken of her four-day ordeal as a prisoner in the besieged compound of Islamist group, Boko Haram.”
— “On 26 July, Mary was in church with her pastor, his brother and an older Christian woman when a group of fifty militants broke in. She and her pastor hid as the group killed the pastor’s brother and dragged the older woman out of the room. On discovering their hiding place, the militants cut off her pastor’s hand to stop him holding on to her, then hacked him to death with machetes before setting him on fire.”
Iran Continues Imprisonment of Christian Women for Religious Beliefs
ICC Report: “Iran Continues the Illegal Detention of Christian Converts”
— ICC reports:
— International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Iranian authorities told Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh, converts from Islam to Christianity, to recant their Christian faith during a hearing before a revolutionary court in Tehran on August 9.”
— “Maryam, 27, and Marzieh, 30, were first arrested on March 5, 2009, for leaving Islam. Iranian authorities kept them in solitary confinement at the infamous Evin prison, deprived them of medical attention, and blindfolded and interrogated them for long periods of time.”
— “At the time of hearing before the court, the deputy public prosecutor, Haddad, asked Maryam and Marzieh about their faith and told them to recant their belief in Christ. When he asked them if they were Christians, they replied, ‘We love Jesus.’ He then repeated his question, and they said, ‘Yes, we are Christians.'”
— “When he said, ‘You were Muslims and now you have become Christians,’ their reply was ‘We were born in Muslim families, but we were not Muslims.'”
— “During the questioning, when they made reference to their belief that God had convicted them through the Holy Spirit, the deputy public prosecutor said, ‘It is impossible for God to speak with humans.’ In return, Marzieh asked, ‘Are you questioning whether God is Almighty?’ The prosecutor replied, ‘You are not worthy for God to speak to you.’ Then Marzieh said, ‘It is God, and not you, who determines if I am worthy.'”
— “At the end of the hearing, the deputy prosecutor told them to take time to think about the option of returning back to Islam, but Maryam and Marzieh replied, ‘We have already done our thinking.'”
— “After the questioning, they were taken back to the prison.”
Iran prisoners were ‘savagely raped’ after protests
Iran prisoners were ‘savagely raped’ after protests
— “A reformist candidate defeated in the Iranian presidential election has claimed that arrested protesters have been ‘savagely raped’ while in custody”
— Karroubi Calls On Rafsanjani to Deal with Rape of Young Men and Women in Iranian Prisons
UK: Probation for mosque threat man
Probation for mosque threat man
Geo World News reports:
— “GLASGOW: Muslim leaders called for action against the threat of violence from the extreme right after a man was sentenced for threatening to blow up a mosque.”
— “Neil MacGregor was given three years probation at Glasgow Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to breaching the peace and failing to appear in court.”
— “The 36-year-old admitted telephoning and emailing Strathclyde Police and threatening to blow up Glasgow’s Central Mosque in February 2007.”
Buffalo Beheading Trial: “Man accused of killing wife to get mental examination”
Man accused of killing wife to get mental examination
Lawyers may seek insanity defense
By Matt Gryta
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
August 08, 2009
“Muzzammil S. ‘Mo’ Hassan, who is accused of beheading his wife, is expected to undergo psychiatric examinations that will determine whether his lawyers will be able to raise insanity issues at his upcoming trial.”
“During a hearing Friday, attorney James P. Harrington told Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk that psychiatric examinations of Hassan, 44, are expected to be completed by mid-September.”
“Hassan, who was born in Pakistan, cofounded Bridges cable TV network, based in Orchard Park.”
“He has been jailed since turning himself into Orchard Park police about an hour after allegedly beheading his estranged wife and business partner, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37, in their TV studio on Feb. 12.”
“The week before, the victim had filed for divorce and obtained a court order of protection against Hassan, to keep him away from their Big Tree Road home — the scene of a dozen domestic problem incidents in recent years, according to police.”
“On March 12, an Erie County grand jury indicted Hassan on a single count of second-degree murder.”
“The victim, Hassan’s third wife and mother of the two youngest of his four children, was attacked in the Thorn Avenue office of the Muslim-oriented cable station the two launched about five years ago.”
“The couple’s children currently are living with relatives under court supervision.”
“During Friday’s brief court session, Colleen Curtin Gable, the chief homicide prosecutor in the case, complained to the judge about “repeated demands” of the Erie County District Attorney’s office as to how Harrington plans to defend Hassan.”
“Harrington, without showing his legal hand, told the judge and prosecutor he has been “working through some practical matters” in the case, which have delayed Hassan’s ‘evaluation’ by defense mental health experts.”
“After prosecutors receive the required pretrial notice on the defense strategy, they will be able to arrange for their own mental health professionals to examine the defendant — if insanity-linked issues are part of the defense strategy.”
“After Harrington said he is confident he can provide prosecutors with his defense strategy by mid-September the judge scheduled another session in the for Sept. 18. To give both sides enough time to prepare Franczyk has scheduled a tentative Jan. 19 start of jury selection in the murder trial.”